Pretentious Game
by Abe Lincoln Lover
Summary: Kaito is in love with Aoko, but by passing up too many chances to tell her how he feels, ends up missing the chance altogether. (Based off a cute flash game called "Prententious Game")


**Pretentious Game**

_I will go wherever you are._

The wind was blowing unusually strong that night.

Aoko stood on the roof of the skyscraper, staring angrily down at the crowd gathered below. It was completely stupid that so many thousands of people idolized some dumb, old criminal. She was pretty sure that, besides Hakuba and her father, she was the only person in the whole world that hated the thief and wanted to see him behind bars. Not even the task-force that was trying to catch despised him, which just went to show how corrupted the Tokyo Police really was.

Her reasons for loathing the no-good pest were fairly valid; he made a fool out of her father and took away precious bonding time she should've had with him. However, now she had a new reason – Kid's new biggest fan was none other than her best friend, Kaito.

That little oddity of Kaito's confused her a bit. Up until about six months ago, he had been very adamant about only worshipping his late father. Also, he was a very independent person. So why, of all people, did _Kaito_ fall under Kid's spell?

Acknowledging that Kaitou Kid finally appeared, Aoko grasped the railing and bit back tears, realizing for the first time that the people she hung around every day talked about a criminal more than they spoke with her. In everyone's eyes, she came in second as opposed to a thief.

_Climb any mountain_

Kid glanced around the crowd, trying to pick out Aoko's face in it. He couldn't find her. Why not? He looked up at the buildings. Ah, there she was - "cheering" him on from the roof of Beika Hotel. Perhaps he could change his escape route just a little to make sure he ran into her. Doubtless, she would be furious – but then again, she _was_ beautiful when she was angry. He made his decision.

Snatching up his target – an emerald, by the name of "Forest's Center" - he took his grappling gun out, and with a flick of his wrist, sent the grapple flying towards the hotel. It hooked on with a loud _CHANK, _which he heard even though he was so far way.

Aoko decided to do something he didn't expect. She _unlatched the grapple _from the railing, and threw it done to the swarm of fans below. What was he supposed to do now?

_Use whatever is necessary_

Thank goodness he had a backup plan. Technically, it was his original plan that he had abandoned in favor of this one, but that doesn't matter right now. What does matter is that he was prepared.

Smiling broadly to cover up his mistake, he threw a smoke bomb down and leapt into the crowd, applying a random disguise as he did so. He know took on the persona of "Mimiko Ami", a student at Ekoda High School who had stopped by Kid's heist as she was coming home from a date with her boyfriend. It was detailed, as one needs to make up convincing stories on the spot if they are to get away with stealing priceless treasures at night.

Making "her" way through the mob, Kaito finally reached the nearest building and climbed up its fire-escape. By the time he/she got to the roof, all the people who had accidentally bumped into him had forgotten the "ordinary girl". He congratulated himself for being so cunning and mentally high-fived himself. A quick look around the roof told him that, no, this was not the correct building. Oh well. There was no point in pursuing his silly idea any further, since that would require him to run all the way back down to the ground, make his way through the insane crowd, and then go up yet another fire-escape. That was something he didn't feel like doing. Perhaps there was another way, though...

_Leap cliffs_

The gap between the two buildings was rather small – it was only ten feet. That brought a smile to his face. Discarding his disguise, he resumed being Kaitou Kid and jumped across the opening, landing gracefully on the other side.

Aoko was pulled out of her reverie as she heard a soft _thud_ come from behind her. Turning around, she was astonished to see the Kid grinning at her, only a few paces away.

The surprise didn't stay for long. In a moment she had changed from shocked to murderous. What did that idiot think he was doing, approaching her when she oh-so-obviously hated his guts? _Then again_, she thought, _he isn't exactly the sanest person in the world, if the whole thievery business wasn't a dead giveaway..._ They must have stared each other down for a while, since a man that Kaito had seen on the roof of another building had had enough time to run down the stairs of the mall he was on, get through the crowd, run up _this _hotel's stairs, and burst through the door to the roof with a gun fully loaded.

_Dodge Fire_

Snake walked over to Aoko, stepping boldly with precision, knowing that this was going to be the day he killed Kid. Pulling her close to him, he held his gun up to her head and said in a dangerously calm voice, "I'm giving you one chance. Got that? Hand over the jewel or I'll shoot. Remember – one chance."

Kaito was stuck. He hadn't checked to see if the gem was Pandora yet, but he didn't want her to die. There were so many people that were close to her that would miss her. He would miss her the most, though, since it would be through his own doing if she died that night. Hopefully it stayed "if" and didn't become "when".

Which was more important? - destroying Pandora or keeping Aoko alive? He could've hit himself on the head – Aoko, of course! He chastised himself silently for even thinking that he had a choice in this sick game Snake was playing. He began to take out the emerald... "I gave you a chance. I've had it with you," Snake sneered as he pressed a button on some strange device he had taken out of his pocket. The floor underneath them shook violently, and Aoko let out a small whimper of fear.

Cursing in his mind, Kaito wondered _why_ Snake had done that. Why? Why, why, why?

It came to him. In those moments where he had contemplated his options, the man in the trench-coat had decided he was taking too long to make his decision. Thus the pressing of the button happened, which had, without a doubt, detonated a bomb in the building. Even as he stood there, eyes widened, he could feel the heat permeating through the floor and warming him up. He could only hope that anybody staying in the hotel that night had left their rooms in order to go outside to watch Kid's heist.

The door to the roof was still open. In the entrance there were bright, orange flames, consuming every last thing they touched. Just how big was that bomb, that the fire had already reached the top floor?

Oh, Snake was speaking now. "Kid, go down those stairs or I'll shoot the girl."

Now he had a choice between keeping himself alive or Aoko alive. Well, it wasn't really a choice – like last time, there was only one thing he could pick. Also like last time, he picked the Aoko.

Resigning himself to dying, Kaito approached the burning doorway of flames. Perhaps he would be able to make it out alive if he went quick enough. That thought cheered him up slightly.

He took one step into the wall of fire. Strange, he didn't feel anything. Had his father designed the costume to be fireproof?

Another step disproved that. The pain came now, as though it had been delayed when he had taken the first step.

The sensation was terrible – painful – agonizing – stinging – tormenting – and didn't ignore a single spot on his body. He screamed out, but knew that nobody could hear. The loud crumbling of the support beams and the such drowned out anything of that nature. Trying his best to ignore his pain long enough to get out of the building, he stopped short as he realized something obvious. How was Aoko going to get out?

_I will run fearless_

He was frozen. Aoko was at the top of the building, where the only exit was a burning doorway of fire. Snake probably had some fancy way to get out – either that, or he was planning on dying up there.

Spinning around, Kaito began to run back through the hallway to reach the stairs. This whole thing was messed up! He had gone into the fire to save Aoko at the cost of his life, not save himself at the cost of hers!

His heart sank as he stared at the burning pile of ceiling that had fallen in front of the staircase, blocking his path. Things just kept getting worse, he decided as he had a small coughing fit due to the smoke inhalation.

_I will find a way_

It occurred to him, a few seconds afterwards, that hotels usually have more than one staircase, just in case something like this happened. Er, well, not exactly like this, but you get the point – in case one path was blocked off like this.

So a split second later, Kaito found himself sprinting at full speed down the hallway. He barely realized what he was doing – he just knew that he had to get to Aoko, no matter what. His rational thinking had been abandoned long ago. He was acting completely on instinct now. It could only be hoped that his instinct was doing the right thing.

Skidding to a stop in front of yet another burning pile of whatever-it-is, Kaito groaned. This was not looking good – both staircases were blocked and Aoko was _still on the roof_. Putting his hand to his head, he attempted to soothe the headache that was either caused by the terrible turn of events, or the smoke inhalation. He blamed it on the former. There was no way he was going to admit that even he could be brought down by something like breathing in the wrong substance. He was the Kaitou Kid – he was supposed to be infallible, for Pete's sake!

_Or make a way_

Keeping that thought in his mind, he clawed through the burnt remains of the whatever-it-is, making a sizeable hole in the mound in record time (not that they keep records of that type of thing). Crawling through the hole, he rejoiced silently before continuing on up the stairs, trying to ignore that gnawing feeling of light-headiness.

He counted the steps in his mind, making a song out of it. It seems pretty ridiculous, what with situation he was in, but if it kept him occupied and not concentrated on the smoke he was breathing in, then it was good enough for him. _One step, two step, skip a step, four. Five step, six step, skip a step, eight!_

It didn't do much. Not that it was expected to – such a terribly improvised distraction hardly even had the chance to do much. He cursed himself thrice for even thinking that it would.

_Even if I have to drag myself to you_

Why did it feel like the air was getting harder to breathe in?

Kaito crumpled to the ground. He didn't move.

But then his eyes opened, just a tiny bit. They focused on the path ahead of him. His thoughts came out in a jumbled mess. _Must save... Aoko... I'm going to kill Snake... the next time I see him..._

Slowly and deliberately, he moved his hand and grasped on to a heavy piece of debris and pulled himself forward. His left hand too reached out and grabbed hold of another random object.

It was strenuous.

It was tiresome.

It was painful.

Yet he kept going. It was his fault, he knew, that Aoko was in the danger that she was currently in now, and it was his responsibility to get her out alive and unharmed. Anything less would be unacceptable. He knew that, too.

_I have faith in you_

Finally – _finally_ – he reached the roof. The fire around him burned worse than anything anyone could ever imagine in their lifetime. Even simply laying there, limp as a rag, he could feel what little energy he had left drain from his body. His vision went blurry and he was about to black out when...

_Creak..._

The door opened. There, standing in all her glory, was the love of his life – the one who kept him going through times of struggle – his only reason for living – his all – his everything – Aoko.

_I will break rules_

Snake was gone. That much was noticeable when he finally got to his destination.

"What happened to...?"

"He jumped."

Kaito faded into near-silence, with his gasping breaths the only sound he made. Aoko crouched down and leaned next to the doorframe, sighing. "I never thought I would die this way. Don't get me wrong, Kaito – I don't think about my death all the time! - but I guess... I just imagined dying in sleep, after living a full life. But I'm barely an adult now. I'm thirty. Manami, she's... she's only three. I don't want her to lose her mother at an early age like I did."

She drifted off into her own thoughts, leaving Kaito with his. After a few moments of this pondering, he spoke up. "I have something I need to tell you."

"What is it?"

"Get closer to me."

"Why can't you just tell me? Nobody's here to hear it." Her words came out with a hint of bitterness in them.

"Just do it."

"Fine," she gave in, leaning in so that he could whisper in her ear. She waited for whatever words he wanted to tell her...

He kissed her.

Her eyes widened with shock before she fainted.

_I can wait. Love is patient_

_She's out cold_, Kaito noted, eyes starting to focus better. The fire and smoke was much easier to handle on the roof than in the building itself since all the smoke simply went up and there wasn't a ceiling to keep it from escaping.

Questions soared through his mind. _What had come over him?__ Why had he kissed her?_

Those were things to worry about later. For now, though, he would wait. He would wait until she woke up. He had worked so hard to get to her, and he wasn't going to abandon her now. The reason is, perhaps, very obvious;

He loved her.

_Even with heavy chains_

It was a good while later that she woke up. By then, Kaito had gotten his breath mostly under control, and the adrenaline was wearing off, leaving him in pain. _Painful_ pain, mind you. There is no other way to describe how he felt other than to tell you it was the most painful type of pain that a person could ever feel – times two. All in all, it hurt a heck of a lot.

He had a feeling that the burns were pretty serious, but that didn't matter to him at the moment. Hadn't he already come to the conclusion that he would do anything for the woman of his dreams? Hadn't he _just _decided that earlier that night? Anyway, he no longer cared for himself. With this being said, he stood up as Aoko opened her eyes and put his weight against the doorframe as he caught his breath.

"Hey, we have to get going. I don't think this building can stand forever; not with the amount of fire downstairs."

This brought her back to reality. "What... exactly happened down there? How bad is it?"

"It's pretty bad," he replied with a fake, calm voice as he extended his hand to her. "I hope nobody got injured."

They were walking down the steps when she suddenly recalled something. "Are you okay?"

"Hmm, what? Oh! – yeah, fine," he lied smoothly. He then proceeded to walk in a very _un_-straight line that was most obviously not the walk of someone who claimed that they were "okay". This caught Aoko's eye, but she ignored it, just as he wanted her to – yet not for that reason. She ignored it because he had ignored her all those times in the past, when _she_ was the one suffering.

_Even if the world is crumbling_

It rather seemed that, the further the pair delved into the abyss of burning tower, the hotter it got, and the hotter it got, the harder it became to concentrate. Neither of the two wanted to touch the railing – it would most certainly burn them if they did. Thus they continued, unable to focus, and unable to stop swaying from the lack of oxygen.

Whenever Aoko began to lose hope, she would remember that this was _Kaito_ who was beside her. Kaito; the friend who she could always count on. Kaito; the magician who could do anything, even if it was "impossible". Kaito; the lucky fellow who always seemed to have things go his way. She admired him for these three things.

Whenever Kaito began to lose hope, he would remember that he was trying to save Aoko. This thought alone kept him going, as it did not only before, but all those years before.

Both people were startled out of their thoughts as they stepped into... nothing. There was no floor under their feet! It must've been too weak to support their weight, so when they went to walk over it, it collapsed. A loud _snap_ was all the warning they had before the ground they were currently standing on with their other feet began to fall.

On instinct, Kaito moved himself under Aoko as they fell. As they reached the next floor, he hit the ground first, and immediately afterwards she landed on top of him. It still hurt for her, but having his body underneath cushioned the landing. She murmured in a quiet, inaudible voice, "Thanks."

_I will jump blindly_

Darkness can be a rather scary thing, especially after you've been confronted by bright light for the past dozen minutes. Every sound you hear makes you want to run for cover and hide – yet you can't. You can't see anything, so you'd just trip over your own feet not three steps from where you just were.

Still don't understand? Pretend that you're blind. It's practically the same thing, except the fact that you were able to see a moment ago. You were able to see one minute, and the next your eyes are closed and you can't see anything.

So now you can image what Aoko and Kaito were feeling at this moment. Of course, the girl was screaming in fright at the top of her lungs while her friend didn't let out more than a a small shout as they fell. A poker face does more than composing your features, after all.

Aoko stopped the shrieking a few seconds afterwards as she realized she was on the ground now (the reason for the delay was that blindness tends to distort your senses), yet as the couple heard another board crack underneath them, they knew they had seconds to get away from that spot. With faith in her childhood friend, she clung onto him as he scooped her up and leapt from there to some other place. It didn't occur to her that he had no idea where any of the holes or obstacles in the room were, so she just put her arms around his neck and prayed for the day to end.

_I will give it all_

It seemed like a long while later that they finally got out of the pitch-black – hallway? - room? - staircase? - and that they finally were able to see again. Aoko attempted to conceal her frown as Kaito let her down from his arms. She made an effort to not think about how strong and muscular they were...

A few minutes later, as they were walking steadily down through the ash-ridden staircases – the fire had finally gone out; how long had they been in there for? - the girl noted with concern that her friend's white suit was unusually dirty, ripped, and burnt, or to say simply, _not white_. Well, it wasn't that she didn't understand why! - it was just that, after so many years of having a certain image of Kaitou Kid drilled in her head, seeing him like this was just... strange, to say the least.

"Why are you doing this for me?"

They were passing the tenth floor out of twenty when Kaito took a moment to consider her. "Take a guess."

_I will dare to fly..._

Finally they reached the point where they couldn't go down any further, thus meaning they had to abandon their plan of heading down the stairs until they reached the ground floor. Thankfully, they were at floor three, so they didn't need to worry about falling much if the floor decided to have another cave in. If the ceiling decided to, though, then that was another story...

The door, fortunately, was unblocked, so they entered the hallway and surveyed the area. If they turned left, they'd go past all the rooms, and if they went right, they'd go straight through the window. That wasn't an option, was it?

Yes it was.

Taking her hand, Kaito juggled his card gun into his free hand and fired at the glass, making it shatter everywhere. Both of them were smart enough to turn away and shield their faces when he shot. Mentally, he thanked Aoko for making escaping the building just that tiny bit easier.

The couple stood in front of the window, with the girl praying her last words and the boy contemplating how exactly they were going to get down to the real ground without breaking any bones. Any person that passed by them at that point would think them crazy with how they were standing in front of a broken window and all, but then again, if there _was _a passerby, Kaito would've assaulted him immediately for directions to get out of the hotel.

That image didn't stay long. The magician jumped, holding Aoko bridal-style. She was very, very, very scared, to the point where she couldn't stop shaking. The ground seemed so far below them. The lights from the fire-trucks, police cars and ambulances flashed around her and she suddenly felt dizzy.

Have you ever fallen from a great, high place? I'll take a wild guess and assume you haven't. In this case, let me explain it to you;

First, your heart stops. You have nothing to hold on to – that is something we take for granted when we're on the ground. Then, you can't breathe. The shock of it catches up to you. Finally, your stomach flips, and you feel like how you'd feel were you about to go on stage and sing the lead part in your school's musical.

And finally – _finally!_ - they were once more on solid ground. A boy ran up to them. He seemed familiar, but as Kaito was still trying to get his bearings, he couldn't place exactly _who_ the guy was until he started speaking. "Aoko! Are you okay?"

"Mm-hm," she nodded, still slightly dazed.

"Kuroba-kun," Hakuba spared a glance towards the white-clad thief, "thanks. For everything."

Sighing, he weakly argued, "I'm not Kuroba Kaito-san."

"I'm sure you aren't," agreed the blonde Brit in a tone which clearly showed that he did _not _agree.

_But all of this is just a Pretentious Game_

They exchanged a few informal "thank-you"s before taking their separate ways. Aoko, with her husband and her daughter, Manami, went towards the street where an ambulance was parked, awaiting her. The poor, unfortunate soul who was left watched with pained eyes. _So_, though he, _this is what mom meant when she said not to let Aoko go. I waited too long to tell her I loved her. She's already moved on._

With a heavy heart, he strolled slowly towards the parking lot where his car was. It was a nice one – white, suiting for him, actually. Removing his top-hat, he sat in the driver's seat and pondered a while, before setting it in drive and heading home. Aoko had made her choice – three years ago, in fact. He had attended her wedding, and was even the best man. That was a lot, considering who the groom was.

He got home and went to sleep. The bed was lonely, and he couldn't help but wish that she was there with him.

Why – _why?_ - had he taken her for granted?

_I am already too late_

_I've built up too much space in our Tiny World_

_...by passing up too many chances to say how I feel._

_THE END_


End file.
